Despite recent media reports saying that initial shipments of Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console may be reduced due to insufficient capacity, the product will be launched in Hong Kong and Taiwan on November 17, said Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) Asia managing director Tetsuhiko Yasuda at today's press conference. Another highly anticipated game console, Nintendo's Wii, which is expected to enter the face-to-face competition with the PS3, has so far no launch schedule that would include Taiwan.
When shipping to Taiwan, Sony will initially equip the upcoming PS3 (CHCEA07) with a 60GB hard disk drive (HDD), and its suggested retail price will be NT$17,980. The 20GB version (CHCEB07) will follow in December, priced at NT$14,980. Sony will also start shipping a "pink" version of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) to Taiwan by the end of this year. So far, the company has no price adjustment plan for PS2.
Yasuda expects the 60GB version to target the mainstream market segment despite the 20GB version will come out with a lower price. Industry sources noted the 20GB version will only be able to store about 5-6 games, and it will not support wireless LANs (WLANs). Gamers are also expected to prefer the 60GB version.
PS3's PlayStation Network has no Chinese edition available yet. The service will initially let gamers surf the Internet, access forums and download games. In the future, SCE plans adding music and movie downloads.
Yasuda did not make number projections for initial PS3 shipments to Hong Kong and Taiwan, but he stressed that SCE aims to attract a million buyers. A recent TG Daily report cited the Japanese-language Nihon Keizai Shimbun as saying that Sony reduced its initial PS3 shipment forecast for Japan by 20% to 80,000 units amid insufficient capacity.
Hakuyu, Nintendo's sales agent in Taiwan, indicated that Nintendo will release the Wii game console in the Japan market on December 2. So far, Hakuyu is not notified by Nintendo about Wii's launch in Taiwan.
PS3 will hit Asia a half day before the US.
Photo: Andrea Liu, DigiTimes.
SCE targets for a million gamers.
Photo: Andrea Liu, DigiTimes.
